Top Predator
by Flipper Boid Skua
Summary: Readers don't need to know much about the Future is Wild. The Vampyrum Spectrum and other jungle bats face a new danger: a bigger badder predatory bat that's slowly wiping out colonies. What could possibly be done to stop it? R&R!


Disclaimer: I do NOT own the Silverwing series or The Future is Wild. They're both too awesome for me.

**Note For those Silverwing fans unfamiliar with the Deathgleaner: **Gonna try to make this as detailed as possible... It's a large bat with a wingspan of over four-feet. It's a diurnal carnivore that lives in the freezing deserts of North America 5 million years in the future. It has evolved from Goth's very species, but looks very different. It has no nose-leaf and its face kinda looks like that of a Foxwing (Flying Fox). Its ears are small and pointed and its eyes are large and orange with small white pupils. Its face appears to have three black streaks reaching towards the end of its muzzle: one from the top of its head, the other two from its cheeks below its eyes. Its chest is heavily muscled and its neck is slightly elongated, kinda like a vulture. It has black membranes on its wings and has a long tail. It has short, but thick brown fur. It also shares traits with vampire bats, in that it can walk strongly on all fours and has a social structure of sharing food among roost-mates. It is highly opportunistic, sometimes scavenging but mostly hunting for anything it can overpower. And this is just an educated guess on my part, but with its large eyes, diurnal habits, and sight-oriented hunting, this bat might be capable of at least some color-vision.

And with that, we begin!

* * *

_Prologue_

_Strangeness_

Night. Light from the large full moon filtered down through the thick canopy of the jungle. Silver streaked dark clouds glided across the sky, bringing heavy warm rain with it to shower down to earth, dripping heavily against the large leaves. Most of the animals ignored the downpour as it was a daily thing all year round. But, the keyword was most....

Hanging about ten feet above a river, a large, young adult bat winced a bit as raindrops struck his fur. Waking up and opening his eyes with a soft growl, he glanced up at the sky. This wetness was very unfamiliar to him as he lived in a cold, but dry desert where weather was extremely rare. Flicking an ear, he glanced around himself. He was tangled in some kind of web, a web so fine even his large penetrating eyes couldn't have spotted it. When he first struck it earlier during the evening, he was rash to struggle against it....That only made it worse. And now, it being close to midnight with no effective progress, he felt helpless for the first time in his life.

His name was Slasher. He's a Deathgleaner, top predator of his home and one of the most respected bats in his colony. Ever since he was a newborn, he's had high confidence in his hunting and flying skills and that confidence has done him well throughout his young life. So to think of himself as helpless....it was mind-numbing for him. And he wasn't the only one trapped here. Several other strange bats and even stranger birds have gotten caught here too. He was starving, but they were all out of his reach, which was unfortunate as the whole reason he got caught in the first place was trying to attack one of the larger bats for his dinner as he searched for a cave to spend the night in.

Finding himself unable to go back to sleep, Slasher thought to himself in frustration. Surely, there had to be a way out of this! Turning his head a bit, he bit the webbing holding his wings as well as he could. He felt some of the webbing tear and was feeling a spark of hope he hadn't felt in hours....

"No point in doing that." He looked at the bat closest to him, the one he had targeted to eat. Now, he took the time to have a better look at his former prey. It was much smaller than himself; its tangled wings was spread and it seemed to be about three-feet. It had a peculiar structure on its nose, like a spike. His sharp sense of smell picked up some distant familiarity, but the smell was mostly unknown to him. The bat continued talking, its voice a hoarse bark. "You'll most likely get tangled again. Trust me..." It was then that Slasher saw a ripped trail of webbing, showing that this bat had gotten free multiple times, only to get tangled once more as it attempted to take off.

He grunted. "Maybe I'll have better luck than you."

"I doubt that." the other said with a faint hint of smug arrogance.

Slasher growled, knowing this critter had just made a lethal mistake. With his wings furled tight to his equally tight-curled body, he looked on the smallish side, his true size and strength hindered at the moment from the web. He was about to make a snide response when something arrived by the riverbank. He stared long and hard at the creature, as it was something he has never seen before. It was tall, standing on two hind-legs. It had a patch of fur on the top of its head and a very bright light illuminating its muzzle-less face. Strangest of all, it seemed to be wearing things all over its body. Was the stuff its fur or its flaps of skin? He wasn't sure.

"Human...." some of the bats muttered to themselves.

This 'Human' is a rather strange specimen as far as Slasher's concerned. Maybe these 'Humans' were the ones responsible for bringing him to this overheated foreign place... He knew it was mostly his own fault, but he wanted to blame it on somebody else. Why not these Human creatures?

The Human grabbed the web in its strange forelimbs and started pulling it in. Whenever it got to a bat or a bird, the Human would pluck it from the web and examined each closely. Slasher watched as it placed strange things on each of the animals' bodies. For the various strange birds, a circular thing was attached to their legs; for the strange bats, similar but shiny circular things were put on their forearms. These circular things on the bats (as he showed little interest in the birds at the moment) were of two colors. Some bats had silver, others had black. He took note that after each one of these animals were marked, they were set free.

Seemed he didn't have much to worry about.

The Human reached him and the other bat he was conversing with. The creature's forelimb reached for the other bat, but paused before taking him instead, its strangely formed paw grabbing his midsection. Slasher smirked and didn't struggle.....yet. He felt the Human's other paw untangle him and it grip him strongly with both paws as he was pulled free. His smirk widened as he noticed that the human must've realized that he's too large to be held with just two paws. It made a strange call and another Human, distinctly different in some way, arrived, helping the other hold him.

They spoke to each other in their strange words, faces that seemed to reflect awe. They must've never seen a Deathgleaner before. They made strange markings on this foreign object, markings Slasher didn't really know what to make of. They also held this strange rectangular thing to their faces, then a very bright flash of light nearly blinded him. He hissed and started giving a struggle. But before he would get to full-thrash mode, they must've sensed his growing annoyance and decided to go back to business. In response, Slasher calmed himself, only a soft growl emerging from his throat. A third human appeared and took Slasher's right wing, spreading it out until his arm was fully extended.

Watching carefully, Slasher observed as the Humans made a small incision on his wing membrane with a sharp object. He only winced at the resulting pain and resisted the urge to bite the enemy or lick the wound. He watched as the Humans stuck a black object through the incision carefully, before tightening it around his forearm. The dark, gleaming band felt cold to his skin, but soon warmed to an appropriate temperature. He's been marked; now he waited to be released like everyone else.

That's not what these Humans had in mind...

His eyes widened a bit as one of the three Humans opened something and it seemed as if he was about to be put inside. No way was he going to be captured by these creatures! Over his dead, rotting, maggot-infested body! He turned his head and sank his teeth into the Human's thick-skinned paw. His powerful jaws easily pushed his fangs through the skin and he heard a loud cry of pain from the Human. He was released by one set of paws and he struggled, easily pulling himself free of the other Human and taking into the air. Free at last, he soared over the jungle canopy, as his wide wings made flying through the understory difficult. Circling to get back his sense of direction, he was met with an unfamiliar landscape. This did not surprise him and he lowered his flight path and roosted on one of the strange trees near the Human clearing. He wanted to do one last thing before going off on his way.

He watched as the Humans made a fuss for a while before they went back to their strange work. They grabbed that other bat he was conversing with and marked it as well. The Humans releasing the bat, Slasher smirked and spread his wings, letting go of his roost and flapping above the canopy before changing his flight methods and soaring on the thermals. All the while, he had his gaze down, watching and following as the bat fluttered intently through the jungle.

Something on the night horizon caught his attention for a moment. A large, strange mountain. This must be the bat's colonial roost as that is where it was headed. He should strike soon, as he might lose his target among the other bats. He waited for the opportune moment, observing as the bat reached the clearing where the mountain loomed. Two other bats of its kind were flapping to meet it. They weren't going to make it....

Slasher angled his wings to dive and he struck his target out of the air to crash onto the ground. The Deathgleaner landed nearby, folding his wings to rest on his wrists, thumbs folded out of the way as well. He stalked the fallen bat as it recovered from its collision and flapped its wings. It was almost airborne when Slasher bit into its tail membrane and dragged it back. The bat struggled, its face expressing great surprise and fear. Snickering, the larger bat lowered his head by his prey and whispered.

"Say hello to Zotz for me."

The look on the bat's face increased in shock, like it knew who Zotz was and couldn't believe he did as well. Slasher didn't give it much time to contemplate his words. He sank his teeth into its neck and tightened his jaws muscles until he heard the fatal crack. He dropped the lifeless body and looked up at the other two bats that hovered in horror, obviously never seeing anything like him before. Giving them a bloodied, toothy grin, he picked up the body in his jaws and took to the air to enjoy his midnight snack.

Leaving the two witnesses behind.

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Claimed his first victim in this new world. Seems the Vampyrum Spectrum are no longer the top bats. Now, how the hell did this future predator get in this time and place? What kind of havoc can he wreak among the locals? All this will be answered in later chapters, which will come faster if somebody out there reviewed! ^^ Thank you for reading!!


End file.
